How a dating site helped me find the International Village Festival

A few weeks back I was on a dating site, which will not be named, to check out some potential prospects.  Normally I don't disclose to anyone that I'm on a dating website, but I am because it relates to food.  Also, maybe I might get a date with one my readers.  One could hope.  Anyways, one of the profiles I was looking at, one her hobbies was finding all the Greek food festivals in the Pittsburgh area.  I told her that hobby was rather strange, and she replied by mentioning that she enjoys going to the International Village festival in Mckeesport every year.  I researched the festival on the Internet, and I was definitely down to going.  From German to Croatian to Irish food, you can't go wrong.

My buddy D and I went to the festival this past Wednesday, and not surprisingly it was a great turnout.  It was good mix of people from old to young just having good times  What I also like the about these kind of festivals is that each ethnic booth serves simple comfort food from their homelands.  I like foods that are complex, but deep down I enjoy comfort food the most.

D and I separated for awhile since each of us wanted something different.  He wanted Hungarian, and I wanted German.  I went to the German booth and got spatzle and a potato pancake.  Spatzle is an egg noodle dish which primarily contains eggs, flour, and salt.  From the looks and taste of it, they definitely added some cheese to add more creaminess to the dish.  I was worried it was going to by dry but glad it wasn't.  Overall, it was a pretty good egg noodle dish because the noodles were soft and creamy.  The potato pancake was crunchy on the outside, and soft and flavorful on the inside.  The sour cream adds a cool component to the pancake.  I decided not to also get applesauce because I don't like applesauce at all. I just don't like the texture of it.

The highlight of the night was when I went to the Hawaiian booth and ordered pig wings.  They are not really wings per say.  They are pork shank that is cut from the fibula of the pig.  From the looks and taste of the pig wings, they are similar to turkey legs.  The pig wings were lean, flavorful, and juicy.  I added the bacon bits on top to add some crunchiness and bacon flavor to the wings.  Now my next goal is to buy pig wings and make them myself.  It looks pretty versatile, and you can do a lot with them..

I had a very good experience at the festival, and I wish I would I could try more of the food but was too full. I'm looking forward to going back next year.  I'm going to leave you guys a slideshow of the other pictures I took at the festivities including the ones above.  The last picture will make you laugh for anyone who remembers late 90's politics.